Stephen Kruiser

Stephen Kruiser is a professional comedian and writer who has also been a conservative political activist for over two decades. A co-founder of the first Los Angeles Tea Party, Kruiser often speaks to grassroots groups around America and has had the great honor of traveling around the world entertaining U.S. troops.

President Barack Obama’s administration will unveil new rules Wednesday that aim to slash methane emissions from oil and gas production by up to 45 percent by 2025 in its latest move to solidify the Democratic president’s credentials on climate change.

Under the proposal, the Environmental Protection Agency and Department of Interior will issue measures to contain leaking methane, a potent greenhouse gas, from new drilling equipment and from old and new production facilities located on public lands.

Administration officials said Wednesday that the United States is now the leading oil and gas producer in the world and, while emissions from the sector are down 16 percent since 1990, they are set to rise between now and 2025 if unabated.

Methane is the second-largest source of greenhouse gas emissions, with nearly 10 percent of output in 2012.

Many of the elders of the Climate Church admit that humans may not be a significant source of methane output. Those that do are relying on the blind faith of the believers.

The most worrisome aspect of this is that the EPA is becoming a small, unelected superpower agency under this president. Let’s hope the GOP can get someone into the White House who isn’t afraid to upset the media and the emotions-first crowd and will greatly roll back the regulatory powers that Obama doles out like Halloween candy.

Millions of copies of the French weekly Charlie Hebdo sold out within minutes Wednesday, just days after attacks in Paris last week left more than a dozen people dead.

The satirical magazine announced last week it would continue with its weekly publication, increasing its print run to 3 million copies. The latest issue, featuring a caricature of the Prophet Muhammad on its cover, quickly sold out before dawn, The Associated Press reported. That is more than 50 times its normal circulation, with millions more copies expected to arrive.

Survivors of last week’s attacks, during which 17 Parisians were killed and many from the magazine, worked in borrowed offices to continue working on this week’s issue.

This is, of course, the exact opposite of what the terrorists want. As almost anyone over the age of ten knows, the point of terrorism is to make people live in fear and capitulate.

Just like the American media loves to do.

The pathetic rationalizations from various media entities in the United States over why they won’t print any of the “offensive” Charlie Hebdo covers have been a remarkably sad spectacle. How does a news entity operate under a permanent editorial directive to always avoid being “deliberately offensive”?

More than 50 patients have died after an NHS trust introduced a secret policy to downgrade 999 calls and not to send ambulances to terminally ill patients.

Managers at East of England ambulance trust were accused of “the most cruel form of rationing imaginable” after admitting that 8,000 patients had been affected by the changes.

An internal NHS report discloses that 57 patients died after their calls were downgraded following a decision not to send ambulances to the terminally ill and to those who had given instructions not to resuscitate.

It meant that, instead of receiving a response from paramedics in eight minutes, people reporting life-threatening illnesses were given a call back up to 20 minutes later, or had to wait up to an hour for an ambulance.

Welcome to another glimpse into the healthcare future of the United States once Obamacare implodes and the idiot progressives find a way to give us the gift of single-payer. It is a dystopian nightmare that gives bureaucrats with barely functioning intellects the power to decide who lives and dies. Imagine Helen from the DMV in a job where she gets to say, “Your mom doesn’t need to hang around for another year or two, we’re gonna send this ambulance elsewhere. Oh well.” There’s your “free” government healthcare future.

Sarah Palin was excoriated for talking about “death panels” in 2008, even though rationing has always been an insidiously integral part of single-payer systems. They have to lie to hide the fact that their policies are so ghoulish, that’s why this one was secret.

Single-payer is a monstrosity that will be impossible to undo once it’s unleashed, which is why the progressives cannot be allowed to prevail on this issue.

Seeking to inject vigor into the search for U.S. troops missing from foreign wars, Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel on Friday unveiled a new consolidated agency responsible for the effort and named its temporary leadership.

Hagel ordered the reorganization earlier last year as the U.S. Congress pressured the Defense Department to boost its accounting for some 83,000 missing troops – about 73,000 from World War Two and 10,000 from other conflicts, mainly Korea.

“Finding, recovering and identifying the remains of these individuals is one of our highest responsibilities, and I believe that DoD (Defense Department) could more effectively and transparently account for our missing personnel,” he said in a statement.

Each year, the Pentagon spends about $100 million trying to account for missing personnel and identifies the remains of about 70 people. It is under congressional mandate to boost capacity to locating and identifying the remains of 200 troops annually by the end of the 2015 fiscal year on Sept. 30.

Few things are more unconscionable than subjecting the military and their loved ones to bureaucratic snafus that exacerbate their pain. Let’s hope and pray that this latest effort is a bit more successful at bringing some closure to these long-suffering families.

Defying President Barack Obama, 28 House Democrats joined Republicans Friday to help pass legislation to jump-start the long-stalled Keystone XL pipeline project.

The defections are another indication that moderate Democrats, frustrated with midterm losses and weary of defending an unpopular president, may be more willing to break ranks with party leaders in 2015.

A day earlier, three top leaders of the fiscally conservative Blue Dog Coalition sent a letter to President Barack Obama urging him not to veto the bill, as he has promised, should it come to his desk.

“The Blue Dog Coalition stands ready to work with you and Congressional leaders to provide stringent oversight of construction and operation of the Keystone XL Pipeline, but we cannot miss this opportunity to create good paying jobs and put America on the path to be less reliant on oil from our foes,” wrote Democratic Reps. Kurt Schrader of Oregon, Jim Cooper of Tennessee and Jim Costa of California.

A few lawmakers who align themselves with the more centrist New Democrat Coalition were also among the “yes” votes, but the support from Democrats was not strictly limited to the center of the party: Progressives such as Assistant Leader James E. Clyburn of South Carolina and Sheila Jackson Lee of Texas voted in favor of the legislation, too.

When you’ve lost a guy from Oregon on an energy issue, give up, Mr. President.

This is the first sign of life from the Blue Dogs in the four years since Obamacare removed their teeth. (Aside: I went into an office they had on Capitol Hill on Swearing In Day in 2011, laughed and said, “Like you guys even exist anymore.”) Here’s hoping they can become somewhat useful again in the next couple of years.

The president’s staunchest loyalty has always been to the Climate Church lobbyists and fund raisers, and he will more than likely continue to oppose this pipeline if for no other reason than to make them happy.

President Barack Obama promoted a proposal to offer two years of free community college tuition to students on Friday but the plan and its $60 billion pricetag over 10 years immediately faced skepticism from Republican lawmakers.

Obama floated the education idea on the third and final day of a tour to promote agenda items being prepared for his Jan. 20 State of the Union address, a speech that will be his first to the U.S. Congress since Republicans won the Senate in November elections.

A quick note about real media bias here. Since the president’s speech yesterday, I cannot even speculate on how many articles about it that used the word “free” in the headline, but didn’t mention or question potential cost. This is precisely how the advocacy media helps the leftists brainwash the masses.

This particular post actually did report the truth, then experienced cheerleader’s remorse. It provides another glimpse into just how deeply the media’s need to “rah-rah” for this president is. Look at this paragraph:

Obama has maintained a sunny mood throughout the tour, promoting the prospect of bipartisan harmony and declining to attack Republicans, in what amounts to an early attempt to try find political harmony in Washington.

Once the bad news about the president’s idea was reported, it was almost required that something nice be written about him, no matter how far removed from reality it was. Two sentences of truthful reporting were just too much to bear, and it was time to get back to op-ed speculation about feelings.

“He’s gone two days without saying anything bad about Republicans, ISN’T HE JUST DREAMY?”

Long after Barack Obama leaves office, the MSM enablers of leftist nonsense will remain.

Alisyn Camerota will replace Kate Bolduan as co-anchor on CNN’s “New Day,” and Michaela Pereira has been promoted to co-anchor of the morning show, a network spokesperson confirmed on Friday.

Boulduan, who had been with the show since it launched in 2013, will become co-anchor of “This Hour” with John Berman, replacing Pereira. Camerota came to the network last year after 16 years with Fox News.

“Thrilled!” Camerota tweeted on Friday, linking to a report from The Wrap, though FTVLive first reported the news in late December.

Camerota was Bolduan’s replacement while she was on maternity leave, and has long been rumored to be on her way to the morning show. “New Day” has been making gains in the ratings, beating MSNBC’s “Morning Joe” on a regular basis.

Soledad O’Brien’s tenure in the morning slot at CNN plunged the network to new lows. It was so bad that it made MSNBC look good for a while.

It is somewhat humorous that their tactic for regaining ratings revolves around someone they poached from Fox News. If it works, look for more poaching (or attempts, at least) to ensue.

Foreign ministers from the Community of Latin American and Caribbean member states have converged on Beijing for the 2-day CELAC-China summit, which seeks to increase cooperation between the regional body and the Asian giant.

Kicking off the event was China’s commitment of US$250 billion to invest in the 33 states making up the CELAC body over the next decade.

“It is fundamental to be able to count on a great investment partner. It could be to share efforts for the development of plans and their benefits,” said President of Ecuador Rafael Correa.

He went on to say, “China has more than demonstrated its economic capacity, and above all its clear political will to meet the challenge of this magnitude. This is what has made it a fundamental strategic partner in many of our countries.”

Opening the summit, Chinese President Xi Jinping said that trade between Latin America and China is expected to surpass US$500 billion over the next 10 years.

This gives a lifeline to Venezuela, which has been in the wasted commie cash sewer for a while now. This is also the new world order, with China stepping into the Great Communist Influencer role played by the Soviet Union for so many decades. Hey, they’re making all of that interest money from us, why not play rich uncle to some of our neighbors now?

“I’m very seriously looking at” a presidential run, O’Malley told a packed audience at the University of Chicago’s Institute of Politics. “I’ve been encouraged as I travel around the country, by the number of people who repeat again and again and again their desire for getting things done again as a country and for new leadership in order to get those things done.”

The gathering, which included remarks from O’Malley and a question-and-answer session, was hosted by the institute’s founding director David Axelrod. O’Malley has struggled to gain media attention amid the constant coverage of Democratic frontrunner Hillary Clinton, and appearing with Axelrod, President Barack Obama’s longtime adviser, gave him a platform.

O’Malley’s approval numbers were swirling down the toilet at the end of his term in Maryland, but when have progressives ever let the overwhelming unpopularity of their politics factor into any decisions?

Hillary Clinton is tremendously vulnerable from the far left, which is why the talk about any potential primary threats always involves the progressives. The Democrats aren’t going to be able to run on much in the way of accomplishments next year, so a frenzied mob lathered up by class-warfare rhetoric from Elizabeth Warren or Martin O’Malley may be their best shot.

Or the Republicans could just nominate Jeb Bush and hand the election to them.

Following the fatal terrorist attack Wednesday at the offices of French newspaper Charlie Hebdo, sources confirmed this afternoon that it is sadly not yet clear whether this very article will ultimately put human lives at risk.

According to totally and utterly depressing early reports, given the tragic deaths of 12 people, it is impossible to say with absolute certainty that this 500-word article will not make those involved in its writing—and potentially even those not involved—the targets of brutal and unconscionable violence.

“The heartbreaking tragedy that unfolded in Paris today is the result of a perverted, hateful ideology that has no place in the civilized world,” is a quote that someone or some group of people might be reading at this very moment and, in what unfortunately serves to illustrate the horrifying state of modern society, interpreting as an unforgivable insult against their beliefs that must be met with the cold-blooded murder of innocent people. “It’s just so terrible and senseless. I mean, how can something like this even happen?”

“I’m at a loss for words, to be perfectly honest,” is a further quote that would hopefully not enrage anyone to the point of actually taking another human being’s life, but which, for the love of God, conceivably could.

This is an oddly subtle approach for The Onion, actually, but it does the trick. While it doesn’t mention Islam by name, it didn’t really need to. The entire piece is basically saying, “This is so insane we are having a difficult time processing it.” It also acknowledges that the nutjobs are still out there and could do this again.

As the preeminent satirical publication in the United States (the New York Times doesn’t count, it thinks it’s being truthful), it would have been weird for The Onion to not comment at all. Because they’re pros, they didn’t try to express themselves in a purely humorous fashion. There is an ill-defined waiting period before even dark humor is appropriate (I was on stage as a young comic the night the Challenger blew up and saw some horrible “too soon” joke attempts, all of which failed miserably). This had a near perfect tone.

Here is the conclusion:

At press time, although the consequences of this article are reportedly still unclear and actual human lives may hang in the balance, sources confirmed that the best thing to do—really the only thing to do—is to simply put it out there and just hope that it does some good.

It was something they almost had, but probably didn’t want, to write and it was done exceedingly well.

Yes, we take our right to free speech and expression for granted, but it is under assault here at home too. Sadly, this horrific incident today didn’t seem to wake up many (any?) of the politically correct appeasers of radical Islam.

She does admit that Islam itself is undergoing “an implosion” but her main point is a very flowery (both she and host Alex Wagner do a lot of inappropriate smiling in the segment), “Yeah, they brought this on themselves.”

Sen. Elizabeth Warren savaged trickle-down economics and took a swipe at President Ronald Reagan on Wednesday, blaming both parties for policies she said have devastated U.S. workers while propping up the wealthy.

The Massachusetts Democrat, who many on the left are pressing to run for president as an alternative to Hillary Clinton, also praised President Barack Obama for efforts she said were aiding the economic recovery, but said most Americans still weren’t seeing their lives improve.

“The trickle-down experiment that began in the Reagan years failed America’s middle class,” Warren said in her fiery keynote address to an AFL-CIO conference on raising wages.

Generally, a politician doesn’t spend this much time giving boilerplate speeches unless he or she is laying the groundwork for some election fund raising. Senator Warren has been popping up everywhere (LOOK BEHIND YOU!) lately, for seemingly no other reason than to spew progressive class warfare rhetoric. We already know that she is a progressive, so can the constant public reaffirmation have any other purpose than to draw clear distinctions between her and the woman she swears she isn’t running against?

If Fauxcahontas isn’t running, she is certainly getting in a lot of practice for it. Perhaps she is merely waiting for the inevitable public meltdown from the eternally awful candidate that most presume to be the next Democratic nominee. When Hillary starts stumbling all over herself (as she always does with increased scrutiny), Warren can enter the fray with a, “Well, I didn’t want to do this…” savior approach.

If you are wondering what lengths American progressives will go to in order to avoid acknowledging the threat of Islamic terror, just look at the priorities on the Think Progress home page now (click to enlarge):

“Climate Change” and “Ferguson” lead the “Trending” section, with no mention of the Paris attack whatsoever. That is followed by stories about abortion rights, Obamacare, gay marriage and fracking.

The Cuban government is resisting the release of several of the 53 people the U.S. government has said were to be freed as part of a thaw in relations, linking them to acts of violence, a congressional aide told Reuters.

“We’ve been told that the Cuban government has agreed to release all but several of the political prisoners on the list,” the aide said.

“The government in Havana believes that the smaller group has committed acts of violence,” the aide said.

The eternally naive philosophy of this administration regarding foreign policy is that being nice to hostile regimes will in turn make them nicer just because. It has not only not worked, but has failed in a most spectacular fashion. The world’s worst players are doing as they please, knowing that there won’t be much, if any, resistance from Washington.

Where would Islamic terrorists be without American media progressives immediately running interference after each of their murderous attacks?

The Soros monkeys at Media Matters For America got right to work being mad at Fox News for being mad at terrorists after a terrorist attack (I won’t post a link to MMFA but I will provide a screenshot at the end of this post). They feign outrage at-get this-FNC’s politicization of the attack. Apparently, every tragedy can be used to push a political agenda except Islamic terrorist attacks.

After the knee-jerk Fox News tantrum, they link to a three month old interview with Reza Aslan that faults the media for using just a few examples to make generalizations about Islam.

A veteran of World War II who slipped away from a nursing home in England last year to attend the celebrations of the 70th anniversary of D-Day in France has died at the age of 90.

Bernard Jordan, who became known as the Great Escaper after his escapade last June, died peacefully at The Pines, a care home in Hove, East Sussex, the hospital said in a statement.

His secret departure from the home to take a cross-Channel ferry to France, wearing his war medals under a gray raincoat, prompted a police search when the staff at the home reported him missing.

Mr. Jordan, who served in the Royal Navy, made his own way to Normandy, and his whereabouts was discovered only when a younger veteran telephoned during the night of June 5 to say that he had met Mr. Jordan, who was safe and would return when he was good and ready.

Mr. Jordan later said that he had gone to Normandy because “my thoughts were with my mates who had been killed. I was going to pay my respects. I was a bit off course, but I got there.”

He told the nursing home staff he was going out to take a walk, and headed toward Portsmouth to attend D-Day celebrations there. But on the way, he decided instead to take the overnight ferry to Caen. Although he had no accreditation, he was allowed into the ceremonies and ended up about 100 yards from Queen Elizabeth II.

There were so many moving tales of WWII survivors who talked about the fact that they probably wouldn’t live long enough to make it to another D-Day ceremony. With his passing, Jordan’s spunk and guts to get there last summer is all the more admirable and poignant. Again, God bless him and those he fought with.

Governments in Europe all want more electric cars on their roads in 2015 as part of the drive to cut fuel consumption and tame climate change. The trouble is, nobody wants to buy them, despite generous subsidies in some countries.

Germany, Europe’s biggest economy and car market, will need to take drastic action if it is to embrace electrification, and the Center for Automotive Research (CAR) wants a new tax on gasoline to provide money to make this happen.

Pure electric cars cost about twice as much as the equivalent sized conventionally powered vehicles, with much less range which also varies dramatically with use and climate.

“Inefficient and expensive? Sign me up!”

Government participants in the Church of Climate Change Hysteria must now extort money from their citizens to encourage said citizens to purchase something they don’t want to fight some scary carbon phantoms under the bed. This is the inherent lunacy of bureaucracies perfectly captured in one story.

Misguided politicians the world over are willing to imperil national economies and financially burden citizens all to facilitate something that even staunch Climate Church scientists admit may have little impact.

On the bright side…kidding, there isn’t one as long as the Climate evangelicals can get near the money.

This is how you get mainstream media gigs if you’re a Republican — by badmouthing the other Republicans that unhinged progressives love to hate. Btw, Ms. Wallace — most Republicans get nauseous when we think of how awful John McCain was in the 2008 general election.

Ohio Republican John Boehner beat back a conservative rebellion on the House floor Tuesday, winning a third and possibly final term as Speaker of the House of Representatives.

But on the opening day of the new Republican-controlled Congress, a bloc of Tea Party insurgents fired off a warning shot to GOP leadership.

I’m not sure that the tone-deaf Speaker heard the warning shot or that repeated firings will have any effect.

The drama surrounding this non-drama was largely fueled by some “reporters” who kept seeing something that wasn’t there-a seething rebellion in the GOP ranks. As we told you yesterday, this was never really a thing.

There is no reason conservatives should stop pressuring their reps to pressure Boehner, however. It’s a slow, inexact process but it can yield results.

“We may not have enough to overcome a veto, so it may be a two-step process,” Hoeven told Reuters.Obama, who has been considering the pipeline for six years, has opposed previous bills to force the project through, saying the State Department needs to complete its regulatory process. If he rejects this bill, Keystone backers will attempt to attach the measure to wider legislation Obama could find harder to veto, perhaps legislation on energy efficiency, exporting natural gas, or on appropriations.

As beginnings go, confronting the president on an issue he’s been insanely intractable about isn’t a bad one for the new Senate majority. This is a direct push at Obama’s most rigid ideology-climate change hysteria-and sends a message about “a new tone in Washington.” Who knows, maybe will get lucky and some Republicans will actually enjoy having the upper hand and will continue pressing their advantage.

Allies of the former Florida governor are planning to roll out both a leadership PAC and a super PAC in the coming days in an effort to lock up major donors and give pause to potential rivals for the 2016 GOP presidential nomination, according to several sources.

They say the two PACs are planning their finance teams, as well as first quarter fundraising events, including some in Florida and one in Washington before the end of the month.

The plan is a bold one that in some ways echoes — and updates — the aggressive pre-campaign fundraising approach taken by Mitt Romney ahead of his 2008 and 2012 runs.

It’s unclear how or whether the two pieces of the pro-Bush money machine will operate together, or to what extent the would-be candidate himself would be involved in them, since a host of complicated federal laws and regulations govern political action committees. Bush’s allies were under strict orders not to talk to the media about the planned PAC launches.

But such a set-up could potentially allow Bush’s supporters to raise huge contributions or secure pledges into a super PAC that could tout his attributes — or criticize potential rivals — before an official campaign launches. A leadership PAC, meanwhile, could accept smaller checks to fund a pre-campaign political operation.

Here we go again. Let’s let an inferior moderate candidate press an early financial advantage all the way to the nomination. That’s been a SPECTACULAR formula for decades now. The people who defend the GOP’s “next in line” approach to presidential elections will only give you a blank stare if you mention that the party has won the popular vote for the presidency exactly once in twenty seven years.

Once.

Were it not for the Supreme Court in 2000, the Dems might have run the table since Jeb’s daddy lost to a no-name governor because he sold out the base on taxes.

This is not the time to drown in a sea of milquetoast capitulation. The Republicans have an advantage and the attention of most of the American electorate. Perhaps they should use that advantage to push forward a bold leader.

Thousands of Indians have fled from their homes as fighting between India and Pakistan spread along a 200-km (124 mile) stretch of the border in the disputed region of Kashmir.

Tension between the nuclear-armed rivals has risen since Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi called off peace talks in August and clashes along stretches of their border have been erupting intermittently since October.

At least 10 Indian and Pakistani soldiers and civilians have been killed in fighting over the past week.

About 6,000 civilians in Indian-controlled Kashmir fled from their homes late on Monday as fighting moved to civilian areas, said Shantmanu, the divisional commissioner of Jammu region. About 4,000 left after fighting began last week.

“We had a narrow escape and there is a war-like situation,” Sham Kumar, 54, from Sherpur village told Reuters. “Pakistani troops are using long-range weapons. It is the first time we have seen such intense shelling.”

Comforting, no? A couple of newer nuclear powers in a region not known for stability getting edgy with one another certainly adds to the falling apart feeling around the globe. At this point I think Greenland is the only place that hasn’t gotten violent.

Thankfully, we have a strong international body like the United Nations to keep things calm around the world.

Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker used his inauguration speech Monday to lay out the rationale for his all-but-announced candidacy for president, emphasizing the “clear contrast” between Washington, D.C., and his home state, and stressing how reforms he pushed through during his first term have made Wisconsin “more free and prosperous.”

The speech, infused with references to faith, outlined Walker’s conservative world view in compassionate terms, but it was also peppered with mentions of economic policies the often-controversial governor counts as key to his legacy.

That last sentence could have read: “…but it was also peppered with mentions of successful economic policies.” Politico, being what it is, however, had to make it sound as if the whole thing were a mirage. The “often-controversial” governor won three elections for his two terms in a blue state. He boldly fought for the pension reform that other governors are waiting until after financial catastrophe hits to get around to addressing. He has battled a years-long Big Labor money-infused smear campaign that may have worked in days past when the MSM had a stranglehold on all information.

He keeps winning elections because the people of Wisconsin know that he’s getting results.

Let’s hope he doesn’t get pushed to the side because of the GOP’s “Well-Worn Retread” policy for presidential candidates.

John Boehner is a near certain bet to win a third term as speaker, but his allies concede that he could lose the support of between a dozen and 20 of his fellow Republicans.

The House will vote Tuesday on the Ohio Republican’s bid to serve a third term as speaker. He needs to garner the support of 217 lawmakers, meaning that opposition from 29 House Republicans could lose him the speaker’s gavel. In 2013, when Republicans had a smaller majority, Boehner narrowly retained the speakership, losing the support of 11 Republicans. Losing a dozen votes hurts Boehner, but is not fatal for his speakership.

There remains a growing pocket of opposition that Boehner’s allies think they have under control. This group is angry at Boehner for crafting a yearlong, $1.1 trillion spending bill that didn’t directly target President Barack Obama’s use of executive action to loosen immigration enforcement.

So far, Texas Rep. Louie Gohmert and Florida Rep. Ted Yoho have announced they will challenge Boehner – both long-shot candidates, at best.

And as of Monday morning, the anti-Boehner crowd was far from where it needed to be to force a second-ballot vote. Those who have said they will vote against Boehner include Indiana Rep. Marlin Stutzman, North Carolina Rep. Walter Jones, Oklahoma Rep. Jim Bridenstine, Kentucky Rep. Thomas Massie, Arizona Rep. Paul Gosar, Iowa Rep. Steve King and new Republican Reps. Gary Palmer of Alabama and Dave Brat of Virginia. Stutzman and King voted for Boehner in 2013. Brat’s predecessor – Eric Cantor – also voted for Boehner. Stutzman lost his own bid for Republican whip in June.

Those of us who have been longtime Boehner detractors would love nothing more than seeing him replaced as speaker. While it is comforting to see some members of the House who will publicly oppose him, it’s all still a very long shot.

This would have more meaning if Boehner and his flying monkeys were open to a dialog about why conservatives are disgruntled, but that probably won’t be the case. It is more likely that he will seek to marginalize and punish those who were vocal in their opposition. Current GOP leadership in both the House and Senate are far more interested in fiercely battling conservatives in their own ranks than they are Democrats.

Hopefully, conservatives in Washington can keep pressing their case and make some gains before the base is permanently alienated. That’s a reality that is much closer than leadership thinks.

For years, Harvard’s experts on health economics and policy have advised presidents and Congress on how to provide health benefits to the nation at a reasonable cost. But those remedies will now be applied to the Harvard faculty, and the professors are in an uproar.

Members of the Faculty of Arts and Sciences, the heart of the 378-year-old university, voted overwhelmingly in November to oppose changes that would require them and thousands of other Harvard employees to pay more for health care. The university says the increases are in part a result of the Obama administration’s Affordable Care Act, which many Harvard professors championed.

The faculty vote came too late to stop the cost increases from taking effect this month, and the anger on campus remains focused on questions that are agitating many workplaces: How should the burden of health costs be shared by employers and employees? If employees have to bear more of the cost, will they skimp on medically necessary care, curtail the use of less valuable services, or both?

“Harvard is a microcosm of what’s happening in health care in the country,” said David M. Cutler, a health economist at the university who was an adviser to President Obama’s 2008 campaign. But only up to a point: Professors at Harvard have until now generally avoided the higher expenses that other employers have been passing on to employees.

Who would have thought that all of the smoke and mirror trickery to delay the real effects of Obamacare would hit people this hard?

Oh yeah, regular Americans who have been paying attention.

American academics are so used to spouting socialist Utopian nonsense while cashing fat capitalist paychecks that their delicate psyches aren’t prepared for the reality of their leftist fantasies. Most big -government elitists are fans of programs that put the burdens on anyone but them, and that is the way that these boondoggles are usually crafted. It is natural that they thought they’d get a pass on this.

This news would be thoroughly entertaining if this tragic reality weren’t already making middle-class Americans endure undue hardships.

Ben Carson, a retired surgeon popular with Tea Party conservatives, has said he will decide by May 1 whether to seek the Republican presidential nomination in 2016, according to a media report.

In an interview with NewsMaxTV last week, Carson said he is still studying various political issues as he weighs a potential run for the White House.

“You have to know a lot of stuff,” he told NewsMaxTV on Friday. “I’m rapidly acquiring that knowledge, listening to people and really finding a tremendous amount of frustration with the status quo, politics as usual, be it Republican or Democrat.

Like many on the Right, I like the idea of Ben Carson but I am not so fond of the idea of him becoming a presidential candidate right away.

He is obviously a brilliant man, but that doesn’t mean he would make a good candidate. The hyper-exposed media era we live in exposes every weakness, especially during the interminable presidential primary process. This isn’t the early 20th Century where someone can step out of private life and have his accomplishments carry him to the White House. In 2004, Wesley Clark was the darling of the liberal media and the fever for his candidacy was very much like the feeling some conservatives have for Dr. Carson right now. He has the private sector cred that we crave but none of the campaign experience is needed.

With the bench that the GOP has for 2016 it might be a good idea to not burn out a potent wild card like Carson right away.

Conservative mega-donor Charles Koch, known for his support of libertarian and Republican causes, is opening his wallet on an unexpected issue.

Koch, according to a story published Sunday by The Wichita Eagle, plans to increase his efforts for criminal justice reform.

“Over the next year, we are going to be pushing the issues key to this, which need a lot of work in this country,” Koch said, according to the paper. “And that would be freedom of speech, cronyism and how that relates to opportunities for the disadvantaged.”

Koch added that changes are needed, “especially for the disadvantaged,” whom he said feel the impact the most.

He also cited the need to reform criminal sentences, which he said need to be “more appropriate to the crime that has been committed.”

The continuing demonizing of the Koch brothers is one of the more appalling lies abetted by the MSM. Far more open-minded and less single-issue than any of their Democrat big money counterparts, Charles and David Koch spread their money around to a variety of causes and politicians that would surprise anyone who only knows them from the media characterizations. While prominent progressives are encouraging “protesters” to disrupt holiday shopping, travel and traffic in the name of criminal justice reform, Charles Koch is taking out his checkbook to affect real change.

The BBC’s director of television Danny Cohen said that he has “never felt so uncomfortable being a Jew” following what he felt was a rise in anti-semitism in the country and the rest of Europe in the last year, reports The Independent.

Speaking to an audience at the Jerusalem Cinematheque, a conference addressing the ability of comedy to drive forward social change, Cohen said “I’ve never felt so uncomfortable being a Jew in the UK as I’ve felt in the last 12 months. And it’s made me think about, you know, is it our long-term home, actually? Because you feel it. I’ve felt it in a way I’ve never felt before.”

Cohen outlined how anti-semitism was on the rise again across Europe. “You’ve seen the number of attacks rise, you’ve seen murders in France, you’ve seen murders in Belgium. It’s been pretty grim actually,” he said.

The unrest here at home has moved the frothing anti-Israel hordes to the background for now, but they’re still out there. Europe is getting positively frightening, however. For so long, a blind eye was turned to the radical Islam elements taking root all over the continent and now there is a militant infrastructure in place to whip all the reliable useful idiots into a frenzy.

It is interesting, and important, that a member of the media is addressing this rising tension. The media everywhere plays a big part in egging agitators on, especially with the way the “news” from Israel is covered. Cohen doesn’t mention that in this interview, but his position at the BBC is lofty enough that it should give some pause, and perhaps make them think a little about their roles.

Should.

In a world where the attention spans are shrinking by the hour, shrill sells better than ever these days, especially in television news. The more incendiary, the better. Until the fire hits their doorsteps.

When Republicans take full control of Congress on Jan. 6, they will face decisions on major changes at the Congressional Budget Office, including possibly naming a new head and changing the rules used to assess the cost of legislation.

Conservative groups have been calling for the replacement of CBO Director Doug Elmendorf, who was appointed by Democrats in 2009 and whose term expires next month. They argue that a Republican-leaning economist would more readily adopt a cost analysis known as “dynamic scoring” that incorporates expectations of higher economic growth associated with legislation.

Analyses by the CBO, a non-partisan office, show how much a bill would increase or decrease the federal budget deficit over a 10-year period.

The budget math used under dynamic scoring has long been a goal for Republican lawmakers, including the incoming chairman of the House Budget Committee, Representative Tom Price, and the current chairman, Paul Ryan, who next month will take over the tax-writing House Ways and Means Committee.

Under current congressional analysis rules, if a bill cuts tax rates, government revenues fall. Dynamic scoring assumes that lower tax rates would boost growth and income, helping to offset at least some of the lost revenues.

Higher tax rates are always onerous but lower ones can have very positive effects, so why not factor that potential in? Unless, of course, you’re on the side that now calls taxes “revenues” all the time in an attempt to dupe the American people into feeling better about having income confiscated from them. Or you’re deliberately trying to avoid a conversation about the economy-stimulating effects of less confiscatory behavior on the part of our, ahem, “representatives”.

So you can see why Democrats will probably be opposed to a change like this.

Carly Fiorina is laying the groundwork for what one ally says is an “imminent” presidential campaign—one that could launch as early as next month.

The former Hewlett-Packard CEO, who raised her political profile with a failed run against Sen. Barbara Boxer of California in 2010, has frequently been mentioned as a long-shot contender to seek the Republican presidential nomination. The speculation is driven by equal parts novelty and activity: Fiorina, who paid several high-profile visits to early-nominating states in 2014, acknowledged that she would likely be the only woman in the GOP field.

“Look, I think it would be great if we had female candidates—or candidate,” Fiorina told National Journal earlier this year.

Fiorina is now poised to become that candidate. According to three sources with direct knowledge of the situation, she has authorized members of her inner circle to seek out and interview candidates for two key positions on her presidential campaign: political director and communications director. Notably, the sources said, her associates are aiming to fill both positions with women.

Look, she’s a more sane option than Jeb Bush to consider this far out. Then again, I’m a better idea than Jeb Bush. Ebola is a better idea than Jeb Bush.

Are we clear on the fact that I don’t like Jeb Bush?

Kidding aside though, I’ve talked to several people in the past year who have heard Fiorina speak at different events and each one was extremely impressed. She is apparently much better with crowds now and one colleague told me that she wasn’t even on his radar for 2016 and now he’s taking her seriously for at least the VP slot.